2017 is shaping up to be a year with plenty of familiar faces in the winner’s circle at the World Series of Poker. So far 33 gold bracelets have been awarded and 13 of them have gone to players who already have at least one WSOP title to their name. The latest player to be added to that list is Ben Yu, who defeated a field of 80 players to win the 2017 WSOP $10,000 deuce-to-seven lowball championship. For the win Yu earned his second gold bracelet and the first-place prize of $232,738. Yu’s first bracelet was earned in the 2015 $10,000 limit hold’em championship.

Yu defeated a stacked final table en route to his second WSOP title, with the last six players coming into this event with 9 bracelets and $37.7 million in combined live tournament earnings between them. Joining Yu in the final six were the likes of four-time bracelet winner Mike Matusow (6th – $35,532), World Poker Tour Mandalay Bay Poker Open champion Shawn Buchanan (5th – $48,854), WPT and EPT main event winner Michael Watson (4th – $68,601) and two-time bracelet winner Nick Schulman (3rd – $98,337).

“It was actually a very tough final table,” Yu told WSOP reporters after winning. “I think the media overblows it [at times]. Even a lot of the name players, the ones you’ve seen have some success, aren’t always that great. But this final table and this field was actually really tough. You have Nick Schulman, who is one of the end bosses of Bobby’s Room — very, very good, winning at everything he plays, good at everything.”

“You have Shaun Deeb, who is one of the few players who can get away with that loose because of how great he is post-flop. Mike Watson is, I don’t look up to many people in poker, but he is definitely one of those that I do. Shawn Buchanan is also very tough, very good at everything he plays.”

In the end it came down to a heads-up battle between Yu and Shaun Deeb, a two-time bracelet winner with over $3.2 million in prior live tournament earnings. Yu started the final showdown with a 5-to-3 chip lead. Deeb won the first pot of heads-up play, but from there it was pretty much all Yu.

Deeb was ground down to only a few big bets before the final hand arose. Deeb got his last chips in before the second draw and made an 8-7-6-4-2. Yu had made an 8-7-5-4-2 after the second draw as well. Both players stood pat and Deeb got the bad news. With that Yu secured the pot and the title while Deeb was eliminated in second place, taking home $143,842.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

PlacePlayerEarnings (USD)POY Points

1
Ben Yu
$232,738
480

2
Shaun Deeb
$143,842
400

3
Nick Schulman
$98,337
320

4
Michael Watson
$68,601
240

5
Shawn Buchanan
$48,854
200

6
Mike Matusow
$35,532
160

For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2017 WSOP landing page complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.

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